Antares as the Older Brother of Wakea in Pre-Contact Hawaiian Cultural Astronomy

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the question whether the star Antares, the prominent red star in the western constellation Taurus, is and represents the older brother of Wakea, widely known as the principal male cosmogonic parent, in pre-contact (before 1778 CE) Hawaii. Nineteenth- and 20th-century literature from Hawaii and Aotearoa was consulted and provides conclusive evidence for this relationship.